WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Sundiata Keita was the first ruler of the Mali Empire in the 13th century C.E. He laid the foundation for a powerful and wealthy African empire and proclaimed the first charter of human rights, the Manden Charter.

Detailed explanation-2: -Answer and Explanation: The Epic of Sundiata is important as a long-standing piece of oral history explaining the founding of the Mali Empire through a semi-mythologized retelling of the life of Sundiata Keita. It is also one of the few records available describing that period of history.

Detailed explanation-3: -For over seven centuries, professional storytellers-known in English as griots-have passed on the tale of Sundiata orally to future generations. The plot has inevitably changed with time and depends on the storyteller, but the core elements have largely held up.

Detailed explanation-4: -The epic is clearly a valuable historical source, but this does not negate the presence of biases and other such human distortions within it which could generate a false history.

Detailed explanation-5: -Written sources augment the Mande oral histories, with the Moroccan traveller Muhammad ibn Battúta (1304–1368) and the Tunisian historian ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) both having travelled to Mali in the century after Sundiata’s death, and providing independent verification of his existence.